Adoption II
by ReconstructWriter
Summary: Sequel to HecateA's 'Adoption'. Sally Jackson's life has never been weirder or better: Percy and Tyson are getting along like two peas in a pod and she has both the career and man she loves. But there's a hitch in her happiness. Some monsters eat other monsters and Tyson makes a tempting treat.


**A/N:** Credit to the wonderful HecateA for writing 'Adoption,' which inspired this story—and thanks for letting me post this sequel! Read the masterpiece 'Adoption' (chapter 98 of Parenthood drabbles) before reading this. If you haven't, the basics is that Percy and Sally find Tyson years early and take him in. Gabe throws a fit so Sally chooses adopting Tyson over marrying Gabe and it turns out Tyson's monster scent covers up Percy's demigod scent. Seriously my summary doesn't do it justice, read her story first. It's amazing!

 **Adoption II**

"Brother!"

A monstrous roar thundered over the playground. The smack of flesh hitting flesh. It's massive stinger tail whipped the assailant, venom pumping deep into the tiny body. Mud slid beneath unsteady feet. A body slumped. Unmoving.

* * *

"Editor Jackson speaking."

"Ms. Jackson, this is Principal Morrison. There's been…" Sally's heart drummed faster, why would they call in the middle of work? "An incident." Her words struck Sally in the parenthood. Her sons. "What happened?" The phone creaked. She stretched the cord to its limit, snatching keys and purse from beside her desk. "I'll be right over."

"It's all right. Everything's fine now. Percy's fine."

"Percy." Sally repeated sharply, hoping against hope it was just an ADHD thing.

"There's been an attack." Sally's heart clogged her throat. Monster. "But everyone is okay…"

The phone clattered to the floor. Sally bolted down stairs, through sheets of rain and into the car, heedless of her half-finished paragraph. The engine growled. Tires screeched and horns blared as she tore into the snarl of New York's lunch-time traffic. A yellow light turned red. Sally sped up. Another car nudged her bumper as she shot through cross-traffic. Didn't matter. She hadn't bought the old corolla for looks. Her imagination tortured her with visions of Percy cold and still; Tyson bloody and crying and she wasn't at their sides right now. Swerving around a massive semi, she cut through an ally barely large enough for the car, startling two cats and a person.

Sorry; she thought.

A thirty-minute drive was over in fifteen. It felt like driving in a nightmare, unable to get there fast enough. The attack had to be a monster. Percy was a magnet for them; one of the only sons of the big three alive. The staff wouldn't see. Wouldn't know. The Mist blinded them…but the principal had said attack. They had seen something. But what could they do against the murderers of heroes.

Thunder rumbled in warning. Sally tore through the massive puddle that always settled in front of the elementary school during storms, glancing around frantically. No monsters. Where were her boys…there. She yanked the keys out, swore when they seized fast, shoved the stick into park and twisted the keys. They came free. Faintly, the lack of a seatbelt registered when her hand automatically tried to undo it. She hadn't buckled up. Good thing Percy and Tyson hadn't been watching.

Beneath the awning stood the principal. Sally ran through the rain, keys held like a dagger in her clenched fist. She swept passed Morrison, her heart already calming, "Percy. Tyson." Her fist relaxed, her whole body limp with relief. She wrapped her arms around her sons—warm, living, breathing—as a tight knot loosened in her chest. Her heart could beat again. Not dead.

Then Sally looked them over more carefully.

Tyson's shirt and shorts were glued to his body with mud, his face and chest splattered with wet grass. No different than play. Percy's top was slashed to bright veins of cloth. Bits of shirt stained purple.

By blood.

"Percy? You were bleeding?" She carefully picked away some of the shreds, searching for wounds.

"I'm fine," he said quickly, pressing his hands against his chest.

With calm she didn't feel, Sally clasped her son's delicate, smooth hands and drew them away. Fresh cuts the color of lung-blood crisscrossed his chest. Rain smoothed ridges of flesh to pale scars. He couldn't have been seriously hurt for the rain to have healed him so fast. Thank you, she prayed heavenward.

The scars were not precise as a scalpel or rough as bear claws. Something feline had clawed his flesh. Repeatedly. Then her hand brushed against something tender on his back that made Percy flinch. Sally froze, gently withdrew her hand and whispered, "Percy, turn around."

"He will be fine. The doctors said, I've no idea how that got there…" the principal blathered. Sally stared at a deep, swollen gash on Percy's back. It was healing from the water but not as quickly as anything else. Pus grew, swollen and angry.

She stood and faced the principal. "What happened?" Her voice rasped like a saw.

"There was a—a lion," Morrison stuttered incredulously. Shaking her head, she added, "Rest assured that authorities are investigating its whereabouts and escape. And how it came here," Another dreadful pause, "During recess."

Sally grimaced. Even if it was only a normal, mortal lion, the mere image of such a beast around so many small vulnerable children…her flesh crawled.

"Everyone panicked. But the lion went after—"

Percy. Had her plan gone wrong? Had Percy's scent overwhelmed Tyson's, drawing monsters in? Did she need to go back to Gabe after all?

Visceral nausea tore through her stomach. Her flesh revolted against it, her heart cringed away. Marry Gabe? That was like changing to a diet of rotten meat scraps after a year of king's banquets. Before, living with the abuse had been easier. Her uncle hadn't been a kind man and Poseidon provided only a brief respite—tainted by the sourness of never lasting—between her horrible uncle and her horrible fiancé. But Sally had braced herself to survive a life with Gabe. Anything for her son.

A year with Paul had softened calluses built against harsh men. Going back was unthinkable for any of them.

"Ms. Jackson?" The principal questioned.

Sally snapped back to the conversation. She still needed to confirm. "Went after who?" she asked faintly.

"Tyson. It pounced on Tyson."

Again she knelt next to Tyson, searching him for any puncture wounds, any gashes. How badly could another monster hurt a Cyclops? How vulnerable was a one-eyed toddler? Nothing, she couldn't find so much as a scratch.

"Ms. Jackson the paramedics have already looked both boys and every other elementary student over. The others are all, miracle of miracles, fine and Percy suffered only minor injuries."

"What happened?" Sally asked.

"The lion was charging Tyson. Percy—Percy **…** _intervened_."

She had never heard someone use her son's name in that tone. Teachers were usually exasperated with Percy. Why couldn't he keep up with the rest of the class? Is it so hard to read "See Spot run?" Can't he sit still for five minutes? He mistook zebra for Zeus. At best, they were patiently resigned. At worst, disparaging. To teachers, her son was a future drop-out who would never excel in their precious academia. They wrote him off.

Even the kindest teachers, quietly encouraging as herself, never spoke of her son in awed tones. Not like he was a miracle.

Until now.

"He _fought_ the lion. Fought it. A fully-grown _lion_. It was leaping for Tyson and he tackled it in mid pounce." Principal Morrison looked out into the dying rain, seeing none of the frantic cars descending on the school parking lot. "I thought he was dead," she whispered, horrified. "Then he wrenched himself on its back, arms around its neck. Tried to strangle it…like Hercules."

Morrison came back to herself, "He wasn't seriously hurt. Thank goodness." She turned to Percy, "And you've used up all your lucky stars with that stunt," She admonished. "They found blood and a few scratches afterwards, but nothing that needed the hospital."

"What happened to the lion?" She searched around the parking lot, as if a sphinx was crouching between the cars.

"Dead." The principal whispered with disbelief. "They slid through the mud into a drainage ditch. Percy shoved its head in the water and…it drowned." She broke off and stared at Percy as if he were baby Jesus.

"It was being bad," Percy spoke up. "It would have eaten Tyson. I had to."

"I know sweetie," Sally managed, forcing back the tears, holding her face rigidly in a kindly smile to keep it steady. She patted his slick hair. "I'm not mad."

She was terrified.

* * *

Class was canceled. Investigators had blocked off half the playground and a horde of parents was overtaking the school. Clasping her son's hands, Sally squeezed through the crowd and back to her car. She took shelter from the dying rain and let out her tension. Everyone was safe and alive. "Let's go home," she said as the last few stragglers rushed into the elementary school. "Seat-belts on," she added. Percy helped Tyson with his and leaned forward, keeping his back from touching the car seat. Sally remembered hers this time. Gently she pulled out of the parking lot and into traffic—as much in apology for her former reckless driving as for her sons' safety. Tyson spoke first.

"No lion. Was," he hesitated, single eye moist, "Manticore."

"It's okay," Percy hugged his brother, "I'll protect you."

No, Sally wanted to shout and held herself rigidly on the road. Tyson was supposed to protect Percy. But the thought of Tyson's bloody, mauled corpse. Her heart shrank. No. Not either of her sons. She slowed to a stop, gazing blankly around the tomb of vehicles. Horns blared angrily; she ignored them. Percy was too young to be a hero. Only six years old. Too young to die a hero's death. And Tyson's scent covered his.

Who would cover Tyson's scent?

Cars crawled forward until Sally managed to squeeze into the first right she could. An unfamiliar road but hers was one of the only moving cars. She wandered aimlessly, looking for a familiar sign.

"Manticore was after Tyson." The Cyclops admitted, scraping his shoes together. The ones she'd bought him at the thrift store.

"Not anymore." Percy straightened in the back seat, smiling at his brother, "And I'll protect him, just like Herakles." His Greek pronouncing was perfect.

"No," she whispered. Another way. There had to be. Some other scent-cover. Maybe invite Paul over more? Could two mortals do what one could not.

Her mouth twisted. That was wishful thinking. Paul was mortal but he was no Gabe. Ugliano was mortal down to his bones, not a drop of divinity ran through his veins. So pungent was his mortality that it carried a scent strong enough to cover demigods.

Was that Dogood lane? No, Duguild. She drove on.

With Paul's help she could have hidden a child of Dionysus. Or Athena. For a time. But Percy was Poseidon's son, the only (or one of the only) living children of the big three. She hadn't been enough to cover his scent in his crib. Two mortals wouldn't be enough. A school of mortals was no longer enough. Only someone like Gabe who was so mortal even without the Mist he would mistake a Hellhound for a poodle.

Of everyone she'd tried in New York city, only Gabe was so smelly.

She glanced back. For Percy, she'd leave Paul, crawl back to Gabe though her every organ in her body roiled at the thought. Beg for forgiveness and protection for her son.

An upside-down sign prompted her to yield to oncoming traffic. Carefully she threaded her way through. She'd walked out on Gabe. Made her decision at the park, fighting a Sphinx for Tyson. He was her son too.

Gabe's price was too high.

A horn blared again. Green light. She had to go forward, somehow. But she was no demigod and Mist manipulation wasn't enough to protect both her sons.

She drove.

"Mom," Percy asked, hunched over. Tyson fiddled with a safety pin and a plastic tube.

"Yes sweetie? Are you alright." Anything to change morbid thoughts. Sacrificing one son for another? Never.

"Am I like Herakles?"

Sally slammed to a stop in the middle of traffic. Horns blared and drivers shouted at her but she couldn't quite bring herself to move. Swallowing her fear, she asked. "What makes you say that?"

Percy raised his head. Was there a greenish tint to his face? "The Manticore was a monster like the myths. And I fought it, like Herakles. Like the teacher said."

Carefully changing lanes, she pulled to the side. Damn classes, of all things Percy had to learn in school. What fool teacher said he was dumb?

"I am…aren't I." Percy suddenly swallowed and clutched his stomach, making the throwing-up-is-imminent. She stopped the car and yanked the doors open. Percy yanked his head out and yawned in technicolor.

"Sweetie," she managed, stroking the back of his neck as he coughed up bile. "Don't ever let anyone call you stupid. They're the fools. You're…" Her voice cracked, going wet. "A very perceptive young man."

Silence.

"What's per-ceptv?" he groaned.

"Perceptive means you can see things most others can't and find answers where others are lost," Sally said.

"Oh." Percy straightened and wiped his face with a tissue, but hissed when his back brushed faux leather.

"Tyson can leave—"

"No." Sally commanded, looking him in the eye, "You are family." She got back into the car and drove on.

"And family means no one is left behind, or forgotten," Percy finished. "I'll fight all the monsters. I'll protect you."

Sally eased the car home and everyone spilled out. "Honey." She said desperately, "You're too young."

"Herakles strangled snakes as a baby," Percy protested.

So did you, Sally thought, but didn't dare point that out. "He fought monsters when he was an adult Percy."

"Awww."

"No quests until you're eighteen." Unhelpfully, her mind added: if you live that long. Out loud, she added, "You're six years old honey. Now inside." She forced a smile. "Let's get you a bath and make some cookies. Tyson, get out the ingredients. Percy, into the bathtub."

"Yay!"

"Yay!"

Well at least she never needed to deal with a child hiding from bath-time. Both her boys loved the tub. As Percy raced upstairs, Sally grabbed a couple gallon jugs filled with sea-water—a remedy she had used for almost all of Percy's injuries and few ills. She dumped both jugs into the tub, reminding herself to fill them up soon. They would be needed. "Now lie down in that and let it soak a little."

With a hiss Percy did so and slowly the tense, pained look on his face faded.

As a distraction, there was little better than sticky chocolate chip cookies (dyed blue as per Percy's request). The rich, sweet smell of chocolate and a buttery, toffee smell of crackling cookies filled the house. Percy was lured downstairs. Not even salt-water could hold him when his favorite dessert was baking. "They won't be done for a few more minutes sweetie. Back in the tub."

"I'm fine," Percy insisted.

She raised a skeptical eyebrow, "Turn around."

Reluctantly he did so and Sally examined the sting wound. A manticore. If not for the rain and getting dunked in a drainage ditch, the poison would have—she clenched her eyes shut. It hadn't. And salt-water worked wonders. The brackish look to his veins was gone, the green from his face back to a deep bronze and the knot of puss had turned into a minor slice. He might have had a bee sting him in the back. "Okay, let's get you a band-aid."

After digging out a blue band-aid (never-mind that no one would see it) Percy asked, "Mom, can you fight monsters off?"

"No." Sally admitted. "I can escape them and distract them." She wanted to do more than put on band-aids. Wanted to be her sons' shield. But even with all the martial training in the world she likely wouldn't be able to do it more than once. A monster would shred her the first time and her death would only delay her sons'.

Someone rapped on the door. Her heart jumped, but monsters didn't knock on the door. Usually. She peered through the peep-hole before relaxing and undoing the locks. "Paul, what are you doing here?" Usually at this hour they were both at work.

"The attack just broke the news. Something about a _lion_ at their elementary school." Paul stared at Sally like he was desperately hoping she would explain the joke. "Are the kids okay?" he asked when no punchline came. Sally nodded. "Oh good," Paul relaxed. "A real lion?" She nodded again because she wasn't giving him the monsters-and-gods talk yet. "I brought turkey pot pie. It's take out, not as good as yours but…" he shrugged. "I was in a hurry."

How could she think of dumping him? And for Gabe.

"Yes, we're all fine, thank you. Come on in, do you want some cookies?"

"Paul, I fought a m-lion," Percy shouted. Sally winced. Oh, what was she going to do with that boy? Before they'd even set the table, the brothers were excitedly telling the whole story, their fear forgotten.

She wished she could forget her own fear half as easily.

"Percy was bravest," Tyson praised. Percy flushed, unused to so much praise.

"Very brave, but if you make it a habit you'll give your mother a heart attack." Paul patted Percy's shoulder.

Her son peered at her from under his bangs. "I'm sorry…but I can't let that monster eat Tyson."

"I know honey," said Sally. "But next time you and Tyson run to the water. Lions don't like water."

Percy's face brightened and he suddenly looked at Paul, then her. "Oh, right." Paul frowned. Percy's smile faded into a contemplative look. Uh oh. "Is there a monster-fighting school?"

Paul laughed, "No. Sounds interesting though. Why?"

"Cause heroes gotta learn somehow," Percy said.

"Well," Paul began, "In the old myths the greatest heroes were tutored by one teacher." Please shut up. "Usually the Centaur Chiron. He taught them archery, battle-tactics, wrestling and wilderness survival." For the first time Sally fantasized about wrapping her hands around Paul's throat. Obliviously, her boyfriend ruffled Percy's hair. "But you're a little young yet for that."

"Why does everyone say that?" Percy grumbled. "I'm six years old."

"That statement doesn't help your case." Paul ruffled Percy's hair. "Besides, if you're training to fight monsters you'll worry your mother."

Too late, Sally thought. Words washed over her until the boys jumped out of their chairs and thundered to their room. Too young, but the point of no return was past.

"Sally?" Paul whispered hesitantly, "Did Percy really fight a _lion_?"

"He fought it," she whispered sadly, head bowed. His arm went around her shoulders, but no comfort was enough. The inevitable had come.

Percy was going to camp.

* * *

In the end Sally didn't get the chance to induct her son to a camp which proudly turned kids into dead heroes. Percy wrote Chiron himself, asking for training. Gods but he needed it. So did she.

"Mom?"

"You're okay, you're both okay," she whispered, hands on her sons just to make sure. "Oh that was so close."

"I drowned it," Percy protested. "I'm fine."

"You were lucky honey," Sally corrected. "Lucky it attacked you by the pool…lucky the Manticore appeared when it was raining so hard. Next time—"

The phone rang. Sally yanked it out of it's cradle. "Hello?"

"Hello Sally," said an unfamiliar voice. "I received Percy's letter."

Oh shit.

"This is Chiron, isn't it?" Her voice was resigned.

"My apologies. But if he knows enough to write me…?"

"He doesn't know his father." Please, just a little more time.

"Who is his father?" Chiron asked.

The question stopped Sally's breath. She didn't know everything about the circumstances that made Poseidon so wary about bringing a child into the world, but she knew enough. For Percy's sake, she dared not speak lest that unknown danger befall them.

"I see." Chiron read her silence. "Sally, if you don't—"

"Mom? Which god is daddy?" Percy's voice carried.

Why? She asked the gods. Why was her son's intelligence focused on figuring out all the things that would get him into trouble? "Hold on a moment." Chiron, arrogantly knowing, waited. She faced her son. "Percy, knowledge can be dangerous. Monsters target you if you know too much. If they knew who daddy was…" She shivered, "More monsters would come."

"I'm not gonna _tell_ them," Percy protested.

"They would know. The second I told you. Even if I whispered the secret in your ear, they would know. All your father's enemies would come after you and this house isn't enough to protect you. Please Percy. Tyson will be in danger too—"

Defiance crumpled to defeat. "Nevermind," he mumbled.

Sally cradled her son, kissing his forehead, "One day, you will know. I promise." She threw him a bone. "Know what?"

"What?"

"Your daddy is also Tyson's. You're blood brothers."

Percy grinned widely, "Really?"

"Really. Your father told me. You share him."

"And we share a mom."

Sally kissed him. "Good. Now play with Tyson sweetie."

Once he was in his room, rather loudly playing Herakles with Tyson, she picked up the phone. "There isn't another way?"

"Not after that. He knows too much Sally," Chiron said gently. "Better he be trained in the safety of Camp Half-blood than left a sitting target to monsters. Or worse, forced to run away on his own."

"He won't." Sally stated. "He will _always_ have me."

"He would have to—if you were killed defending him," Chiron wielded his words like weapons and these were the hammer-blow. This was her price, for Percy. More gently he asked, "How many monsters?"

"Two so far, one three days ago, the second…less than an hour ago." Sally reported resignedly. "He started putting the pieces together after the first monster attack."

"Then there is no time to waste, he needs to come to camp now. If he trains well…someday he could come back and live with you."

Someday. A million years from now.

A horrible thought popped in her head: her six-year-old son drowning in a helmet, oversized sword threatening to cut off a foot, facing a charging mass of fangs, claws and horns. "No quests," she ordered. "He's too young for that."

"I agree," Chiron said.

"Aren't there any other trainers? Any other way?" It was selfish but she was only human. "I'll miss him."

"None of them could substitute for camp." Chiron said.

Sally couldn't shield her baby forever. Time to give him his own shield. Hopefully he would come back with it, never on it. "Percy." She raised her voice. "Honey? Time to pack up."

"What's going on?" Percy asked, cardboard sword in hand. She descended on his room like a tornado. Clothes. Some books. His favorite pillow and blanket—who knew if they had linens in those cabins. She looked around the hand-painted blue and green room. Already so homey. "Is this," his face crumpled, "Cause I was kicked out from school? I'm sorry! I tried to tell them it was like the lion." His shoulders slumped, "They called me attention-seeking brat."

Another monster? Sally brushed that recrimination aside and knelt to look him in the eye, "Do you know Percy, a lot of people said the same thing of me when I was a child."

"You?"

"Yes, me. Some people can't see what we can see. It's not your fault they're blind." Sally changed the subject. "Remember when you wrote Chiron? About training?"

Percy lit up. "He answered?"

"Yes. That was him on the phone. He runs a camp these days. For heroes." She ran her hand through his hair. "And he called just to ask if he could teach you."

"Really?"

"Really. You're going there. If you're still interested." A silly question. He needed to learn fighting for his own safety. It was selfish, to keep him here.

"Yes!" Black mood vanquished, Percy leapt around the room, snatching his toy shield and a few comics as he went. "Is Tyson coming too?"

"Tyson going where?" The little Cyclops came back into the room with a bag of goldfish.

"To camp," Percy shouted.

"He's even younger than you," Sally protested.

"Yeah," his happy dance came to a halt and he stared at her with naked worry. "What about you?"

"What about me honey?"

"The monsters. If I'm not here…" Percy trailed off.

She kissed her sweet son. "I'll be fine. I've had practice avoiding monsters." And she wouldn't attract them like Percy, though she didn't dare say this aloud.

"Oh. Okay."

She ruffled his hair. "Ready to learn sword-fighting?"

"Yea." Percy jumped up. "Come on Tyson, we're gonna be heroes!"

"Tyson likes heroes."

"Then finish packing and into the car."

Everyone piled in with backpacks and bags bulging. Sally swallowed and handed out Greek myth books. "Research," she joked, smile a little too wide. Her heart swelled watching the boys devour them from the rearview mirror. Both still struggled to read but they had definitely improved. Percy leaned over, "It's Ah-thee-na," he emphasized for his brother.

She would miss this.

"I can do it." Tyson shrugged him off.

Most of this.

The car jolted. Tyson and Percy collided as the seat belt cut off Sally's lunge. With a clank of metal the car settled back on its tires. Sally glanced at the mirrors.

A monstrous face glared back. A canine shape lurched to massive paws and Sally knew this was no dog. She threw the car in reverse and car tires ground the beast into the asphalt.

"Mom?" Percy asked hesitantly.

"Leave us alone!" Tyson shouted.

"Another monster," she answered Percy. Crack. Something hit the back-end. More than one. "Percy, where's water?" She switched gears to drive and picked up speed. Her car was mortal and would only slow the creatures down.

"I…I don't feel…"

"Try to concentrate. Try to feel the water. You can do it honey." She swerved, dodging the teeth of another monster. A whole pack appeared in her mirrors. She gunned it, praying there were no cops nearby.

Cue wail of sirens.

Chancing a backwards glance, she saw gleaming lupine fangs crack the rear window. How could those brutes move so fast? "Honey, sweetie, hold on," she ordered. "We're about to stop."

Sally slammed on the breaks. Everyone was shoved back and flung forward. Bodies slammed into her car, crumpling metal and again Sally reversed the vehicle. The cop caught up as she ran the monsters over a second time. He stared from the regenerating beasts to her car as though she was the fiend. "Ma'am."

"I'm sorry!" Sally shouted. "I'm being chased." She turned the car to drive again and tore over the monsters a third time.

"Those were dogs!" The cop shouted.

Not dogs, Sally wanted to shout. He wouldn't believe her. Some had more than one head, like the dreaded hellhounds of _him._ Had _He_ found out? Her lover's brother? No matter how hard she smashed the gas petal, they loped behind. Suddenly Percy glued his face to the window. "Water. That way," he shouted. Sally swerved 'that way' and nearly drowned the car.

The monsters caught up. And brought friends.

"You." The leader growled, a strange dust-like sand falling like blood from its body. Before her eyes, it solidified. "I will rip open your bowels and feast on them."

The officer pulled up and glanced uncertainly at the pack. "But you ran over—" he whispered. Then stopped. "Ma'am. Ma'am," he spoke officially. "You were speeding. A hundred and forty miles per hour." He frowned again at the monsters. "How could the dogs keep up?"

"Officer," Sally said coolly. The calm of extreme fear gone all the way around the bend to become calm again. Like ice. "Don't think about that." If he thought too much…the Mist wasn't impenetrable.

Carefully, Sally backed up, nudging her sons toward the lapping waves. Fresh-water. It was enough. The lead monster lunged for Sally. She gestured with a hand, trying to gather the Mist. Too slow. The beast's burning stare loomed closer, closer.

A flash of blue. Percy slammed into it with the full force of his shoulder, sliding over it and wrapping and arm around the sinewy throat. Fangs clamped down and Percy howled. His feet hit the water and he wrenched the monster over his head. As soon as it splashed into the lake, Sally struck again with a crowbar.

Too late.

Half a dozen monsters buried Percy beneath their fangs and claws. A nightmare come to life. Three more cut her and Tyson away. Sally smashed heads and backs, lunging with the full strength of her body. Dust flew only to solidify again. Tyson smashed both his knotted fists on the shoulder blades of one monster. It's howl of pain was cut off as the young Cyclops grabbed it around the throat like a chicken, wrenching its neck. The cop gaped at the sight, wide-eyed, gun twitching as he pointed it toward the pack. He did nothing, which made Sally irrationally furious. Yet the man's hesitance saved Percy. Bullets wouldn't hurt the monsters but they could still kill her son.

Percy suddenly wrenched himself out of the pile, clawing to his feet. Blood welled and flowed from a dozen bites and claw wounds. Alive. Mouth open, torso heaving, water dripping from clothes and hair, he grabbed the first monster by the tail and heaved it like a giant flail. Canine heads clacked together, thrashing claws slashing at vulnerable faces.

A shot rang out, so close the sound was a physical impact. A monster stumbled. Grey dust flowed like sand from its chest, then the dust coiled back around and settled into fur. It lunged.

The cop shot twice more, but the monster kept coming. "The hell? The hell is this? Resident Evil."

Crunch. Percy punched monster-jaws. Teeth and bone slashed his fingers and knuckles but water washed blood away. Wounds closed. Sally smashed skulls and clawed at eyes. Her blows barely dazed them, but kept their attention for a second or two and she inched into the water. Tyson swung a piece of driftwood. Wham. The log exploded into shards.

The gun clicked empty. Brown eyes widened. "Oh shit." Another monster pounced. The officer clubbed it with the gun. The thing rose again. "Die, damn you. Die zombie dog." Percy grabbed its throat with both hands and squeezed. The creature slackened.

"Oh my…oh my holy crap. The hell is going on?" He gaped at the corpses.

Horse hooves thundered. The officer turned, seeing Chiron. "Oh," he whispered and the empty gun fell from his slack hands.

* * *

The strange party of armored children and Jackson family gathered beside camp boarders, watching the officer's car vanish westward. "Will he remember?" Sally asked Chiron. "Did you manipulate the Mist?"

"I tried." Chiron stepped back. "But he never saw hellhounds. The Mist worked, transforming the monsters into things his mind could accept."

"He was screaming about zombies."

"Yes. Many beliefs influence the Mist: bigotry, religions, even fiction. He shot the 'dog' and saw it live despite the bullet. So his mind twisted the Mist's illusion into something to fit what he saw. And what he believed in."

"Zombies?"

Chiron shrugged. "Fiction and truth can blur. Zombie stories are becoming very popular these days."

"Sir. What about the Cyclops?" The youngest demigod spat the last word, glaring at Tyson.

Percy turned away from the healer and planted himself between her and his sibling. "That's my brother," he said, bracing himself protectively.

"Tyson is Cyclops. Monster," The little boy pointed out dismally.

"The best Cyclops. My brother," Percy ruffled Tyson's hair before glaring at the soldiers, "Not mean like _some_ people."

The speaker clutched her dagger, "No. You're not letting him in. He's a monster." Her voice was high with fear. Part of Sally's heart went out to her; she must have nearly been eaten by a Cyclops too. Yet when those sharp grey eyes narrowed at Tyson like he was a spider she was going to stab, Sally leapt between Tyson and the stranger.

"Annabeth," Chiron soothed ruffled feathers.

"Monsters hunt him too," Percy protested.

"More monsters are after you." Chiron told Percy. "Your mother can protect him. Unless the gods claim—"

A trident appeared, glowing blue over Tyson's head.

"Never mind," Chiron mumbled. He stamped a hoof and spoke in a louder voice. "All hail Tyson, Poseidon's son." And the point was moot.

* * *

Sally drove home alone. The warmth of the boy's goodbye hugs faded in the tangible emptiness of the car. The books were gone. Their bags were gone. She could feel the spaces where they had been, the ghosts of their presences lingering in the back-seat, but held it together until she got to their bedroom. Empty. Stripped of all its lived-in things. As if they'd never been there. As if they were never coming back. Her face crumpled. The tears came at last.

Paul came knocking later, an empathetic smile on his face. "Hey," he said softly, "Kids all off at camp?"

She nodded.

His arms warmed her but he said nothing. Sally was grateful. Her fears were far more than simple empty-nest syndrome. They were the very real fears of a soldier's mother—because that's what Percy was going to become at Camp Half-blood.

"They'll be fine. They're safe, aren't they?" She nodded, for now they would be. No quests, just training. "Want to go out?" Paul asked, "Maybe get something to eat that isn't fast food or pizza? It's a rare opportunity for a mother to take a vacation."

Sally reminded herself that, for now Percy and Tyson were as safe as they could be. "Yes, something I don't have to cook myself. And someplace without a children's menu, where we can take our time ordering."

He laughed, "That sounds wonderful."

Her plans hadn't survived contact with family, let alone enemies. Percy was attending camp at half the age he ought. Monsters had attacked instead of ignoring him. Way too many. She wasn't married to Gabe—and thank the gods for that. They weren't trapped with an abusive bastard 'for Percy's own safety'. Tyson was not dead, curled in the flimsy refrigerator box he had called home, thread-bare, holey blanket offering no warmth to the cooling body.

She shook the image from her mind. That hadn't happened. Wouldn't happen. The future was a wonderful time with Paul. "Let's go." They waited a whole hour for dinner to be brought to them—and not a whine to be heard.

"I can't remember the last time I've been to a place like this," Sally said. If she ever had, it wasn't black-tie but the cost of a single meal could have bought her whole family lunch at McDonalds.

"I hope your memory is re-awakening," Paul said.

"Oh yes, I can even remember the last non-animated movie I saw. Jurassic Park."

"Well you've missed almost a decade of block-busters taking advantage of the newest technology to make explosions and car-crashes even more dramatic."

"No thank you, I've had enough of that."

"But you've missed some good ones too."

"Show me."

Just after the movie, while she was washing up Percy's face appeared. She jerked slightly in surprise. "Mom! Guess what I found out?"

Something to further ruin your life, she thought. "What honey?"

"My dad's Poseidon too. Tyson and me share a cabin." He paused, "And Chiron said father's enemies can't get us here," She winced. "So don't worry, I'm fine," he showed the pale scars on his hands and back.

Maybe things would be alright.

* * *

 **A/N:** After reading 'Adoption' I figured even with Gabe out of the picture, Percy's troubles weren't over and this story went from there. Hope everyone enjoyed the sequel half as much as the original :D


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